San Diego State’s basketball team is expected to be ranked in the preseason top 25, with an enticing mix of impact transfers, talented freshmen and returning players from a group that reached the NCAA Tournament the past two seasons.

But that might not be what fans are watching when they enter Viejas Arena for the first time this season. It will be hard to keep their eyes off the video board.

It’s that big. It’s that modern. It’s that impressive.

Viejas Arena, which is owned and operated by SDSU’s Associated Students, and the athletic department dipped into a naming rights fund they share to upgrade the center-hung board for the second time in the facility’s 25-year existence. The original board was replaced in 2009. Thirteen years later, there’s another one.

“While it was a nice board, when you see the new one you understand how old that (2009) one was,” Athletic Director John David Wicker said. “The technology has changed. I’m excited for people to see it. It just enhances the fan experience. You’ve got a great product on the court, and then you’ve got a better fan experience because of the board.”

It’s not just inside Viejas. SDSU contracted with South Dakota-based Daktronics for 19 LED displays inside Snapdragon Stadium totaling more than 8,000 square feet and 7.5 million pixels. The sweeping deal also includes a ribbon LED above the Viejas entrance and an electronic marquee on 55th Street, plus new scoreboards for baseball, softball tennis and volleyball.

Inside the arena, there are two auxiliary displays in the concourse, see-through shot clocks (replacing three-sided black ones) and double-sided advertising displays on the basket stanchions.

The main attraction, though, weighs 24,000 pounds and is hanging from the ceiling.

“The basketball team recently saw it for the first time,” Wicker said, “and they were like, ‘Wow.’”

“It’s definitely NBA and NHL quality,” said Luke Tingle, a senior project manager for Daktronics who supervised its installation last month after being shipped in pieces from their South Dakota factory. “This specific shape and design reminds me of the Phoenix Suns and Detroit Red Wings. It’s the highest quality that we’re putting out, even at the (pro) facilities.”

Each side panel is 17 by 21 feet — the largest possible to still nest in the arena’s ceiling slot — and curves outward to increase combined surface area to 1,500 square feet. Pixel spacing is 3.9 millimeters, roughly 60 percent higher resolution than the old board. Lineups and individual stats can be placed across the top instead of down the sides, expanding the available video space by about 50 percent.

And for fans sitting courtside who had to crane their necks to see the old board? There are now four “underbelly” screens that are 6 by 11½ feet and hang from the inside of the frame, a standard feature of most modern NBA venues.

Another difference is the Viejas logo that used to be above the video panels is now below them, allowing it to stay in view when the board is pulled up higher for concerts.

One thing that hasn’t changed are the old-school, fixed-digit scoreboards on the upper concourse behind both baskets, less for nostalgia than necessity. The players asked that they remain because it’s where they look for time and score during games.

The fans? They can gaze at vibrant colors from 10.5 million pixels controlled by new software that has been used at Super Bowls and features layering 3D effects.

“It keeps us modern and up to date,” said Tim Ripke, who manages Viejas Arena and the Open Air Theater, which also got a new Daktronics marquee. “The LEDs and what we’re capable of doing with it is expanded greatly. It gets our players excited about playing here and seeing how awesome it looks in here. It gets our students excited about being here, and our fans. It just presents well for the future of our arena.”

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